Ladies and Gentlemen! I would like to re-introduce myself! Some of you may remember me from years past, but for those who don't, Im the infamous RotorMotorDriver. Ok, not really infamous, but I like to think so

To bring you all up to speed as to the question which I am presenting, heres a short story...

Years back, I had an 83 GSL which I lovingly restored from a junk yard freebie with 80,000 original miles into a very decent streetable fun machine, she had a 45DCOE side draft, full RB exhaust, MSD DLIDFIS ignition, stereo, etc.

Unfortunately, after only having her on the road a short time, she lost compression on one rotor. I left her over night and returned the next day with trailer in tow to bring her home, but she was gone. Stolen. I later recovered her, although stripped and not much remaining.

As it is today, she sits at my Dads house, not much has changed from when I first found her and went to work on her. I had gone into the military shortly after getting her back, and when I returned, used the money I had saved to buy a truck instead of working on her. So, she sat. And sat, and sat some more.

Recently, Ive been CRAVING to drive another 7. I now have my big 4x4 truck I bought, a dependable daily driver, a sport bike, and some other toys, but nothing makes me smile like my RX-7 did.

Now then, with all that in mind, whats the opinion here. Should I try and rebuild what I still have and bring her back to life, or should I just try and find another one thats in good shape and start a new project?

The dream plans still consist of a 13BT swap, blah blah, but for now, I would be happy if I could even get her running stock with another NA 12A with stock everything. I just want to enjoy the sweet ride she once was.

Mainly, as I said, I want to drive another 1st gen. I'm undecided as to if I should rebuild, or replace. What are your thoughts?

~T.J.

 

whats up man!!!! i say rebuild her!! better than she was before!! glad too see you back TJ, with cheese on top

 

Robert! Hows it going man! If I rebuild her, I might hit you up for another carb setup, that one I had was sweet! So long as you could work me a good deal again of course, haha.

I need to fine a running donor car, or a motor or something though to rebuild, which has been the hardest part to find so far. Ive seen decent running 7s for $1500 or less that I would rather drive than tear apart to rebuild mine, you know? Its just hard to find a running motor local that I could use in her again.

~T.J.

 

Great to see you back again. I remember the post you made when your 7 was stolen and stripped, broke my heart to see a nice 7 go like that.

I say rebuild the one you have. If you get another 7, it just won't be the same. Once you work on a 7, you grow attached to that one car, along with all its quirks. Thats one thing that keeps most of us going I think. That one car that we each make to our own liking. If you rebuild her, I guarantee you won't regret it, even if it does take more money.

 

Long time man, welcome back. Fix yer damn car already! lol...

 

Holy blast from the past, Batman!

Welcome back, TJ!

So far as your dilemma goes, I guess it depends on what condition your car is in. If it's fairly rust free, I think it's worth it to rebuilt it, rather than get a new one. Rebuild parts for a 12A run about ~800 bucks, which isn't bad.

Whatever you do, I'm glad to see you back in our community.

 

tj i will definatly take care of you !! you were one of my first rx7 club customers, so that entitles you to some love from the SHACK!! with cheese

 

Well, I took the first (very small) step today. I went to the junk yard looking for seats for it. We'll see how things turn out, if I can find a motor or what Im going to do... Should be interesting. My step Mom is getting tired of seeing it sit around anyway, so if I do something with it, I might get her off my back finally.

~T.J.

 

do it man! revamp her better than ever, and add an alarm with a kill switch (i know they towed it away though)

any updates on the guys who took it?

 

Depends on time.

Do you have the time to rework it? go for it.

busy life with little spare time? Buy a 3K awsome car and drive it.


PS how much jail time did the guys that stole your car get? I remember that you found it.

 

Welcome back to the dark side

Definitely rebuild. You have the same kind of awesome opportunity I had. You have a 7 that you aren't depending on as your daily driver, which nobody expects to be on the road or available at any specific time. You have the ability to take as much time as you want restoring it. If it's off the road for another month waiting for parts, whatever. If it's at the paint shop for a couple of weeks, cool. If it's just not working and you have to walk away before your head explodes and come back in a few days, no problem.

So I say rebuild. Strip it even more than those thieves did and build up from scratch your perfect 7. Make the car that's going to last you forever-and-a-half.

But I'm just crazy like that.

And as for the "do you have spare time?"..... well in life, if something is important, you *make* the time

Jon

 

About the motor...

Pull it apart, spec out which internals need to be replaced.

Rebuild kit is about 1g, and any misc parts you need you can either post in the FS/Wanted section, or hit up Dan Atkins. He's been posting on here from time to time and he's always got used rotors, housings and whatnot lying around that he can sell.

I say rebuild the current engine with whatever style of porting strikes your fancy. Want brap? Bridge or half bridge Want streetable? street port. Want crazy? PP of course!

And that way you won't just have a "running core I got from some guy", you'll have an engine that you *know* is good.

Jon

 

This is pretty much exactly what Im thinking.

But, about the motor. I wont dump money into rebuilding a 12A. I have too many of them in pieces just laying around now as it is. No real usable parts. When I last checked the engine that came out of the stolen car through the exhaust port, it was missing half the apex seal on one of the rotors, and the rotor looked fawked.

So, I think I wanna go 13B in it if I rebuild a motor, but that means finding one somewhere. Plus, if I go 13B, Im not gonna run a 6 port, and in that case if I ran a 4 port, its gonna be a turbo. So, its a whole vicious battle, haha.

Either used running 12A, or rebuilt 13BT.

~T.J.

 

Post some pics of what it looks like now and what all you need for parts. You might find some sympathetic members to help you out with your parts search.

 

Im not looking for sympathy by any means. Im just trying to figure out what I should do with what I have left. Here are a couple pictures none the less of what it was and what happened.

~T.J.

 

Couple more before shots...

~T.J.

 

And now the after shots

~T.J.

 

Last few...

~T.J.

 

Scored a new glass sunroof today. I'm slowly collecting parts apparently, haha.

~T.J.

 

Good luck, TJ!

Are you looking for another DCOE? If so, I can send you the email of someone who's selling a carb and manifold.

 

I have no idea what I'm going for honestly. I WANT a 13BT in there. What I get, will probably be completely different...

Like I said earlier, if I put a 12A in there, I wont pay to have it rebuilt. I would mod it a little again though. If I put a 13BT in there, I'm gonna aim for a mostly stock install except exhaust, intake, and FMIC. So I plan to just get it going with a stock turbo, stock ECU, etc. However, Im not sure Im in the position to fund that since Im also paying for my bike, and my truck right now too...

I think I'm just gonna keep the thing, and see where I end up with it down the road - again.

~T.J.

 

damn they took everything but the engine kinda shitty thef's usally people set cars on fire after stealin them so it may have been crusher material..

how long was the car stolin for?
did they find the ***** who did it

you have a pretty hard decsion there mate
its obvious which ones a better route but as you said money wont alow it

me personaly im sticking with the 12a half brig with a 48 ida 13bt would cost me to much and the cars isnt up to scratch "safteywise"

 

I want to say they had it 5 days. It was stolen over night when I left it after it lost compression on one rotor. Came back the next day with a trailer and it was gone. I found the car myself, and the cops came and recovered it from the peoples' back yard. They never did anything to the people whos house it was at saying they couldnt proove they actually stole it

Yeah, I still dont know what Im going to do. Unfortunately, I think Im going to let it sit - again. Id like to do the 13BT swap, because the more I think about it, the harder it is for me to put another 12A into it.

I was just thinking I could have it going pretty fast with a running long block 12A and enjoy it again a little, but I think I would enjoy it more if I had the 13BT in there instead.

~T.J.

 

damm bro what a mess . this will take a lot of will power to build that baby back up and a lot of dough , good luck with ur build up.

 

Too bad you're so far away, I have most of the parts you need to put it back together. Shipping would kill your budget. If you don't really want to do another 12A, start out with a ported/carbed 4-port 13B. Once funds grow, then work on gathering parts for adding the turbo setup.

Good luck on the project, you had a fine looking 1st in the before pics. Glad to see you're sticking with it.